Data Point: In 15 states, more than half of children receive health insurance through Medicaid and CHIP

For millions of children across the country, health insurance access depends on two government-sponsored programs: Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Nationwide, 43 percent of children receive health insurance through government-sponsored programs like these, as of 2015.

As of August 2017, more than half of all children in 15 states are covered through Medicaid and CHIP specifically: Alabama (54.9 percent), Arkansas (57.8), California (53.6), Florida (57.8), Kentucky (51.9), Louisiana (63.5), Mississippi (59.5), Montana (52.7), New Mexico (66.9), New York (56.4), North Carolina (59.2), Oklahoma (50.4), Rhode Island (56.6), South Carolina (53.7), and West Virginia (56.6). In four additional states, just under half of children receive health insurance through such programs: Delaware (49.3 percent), Pennsylvania (49.2), Vermont (49.1), and Washington (49.0).

Only in three states do less than one-quarter of children depend on these programs for health insurance: North Dakota (23.3 percent), Utah (22.4), and Wyoming (24.2). Data are not available for the District of Columbia, Tennessee and Arizona.